Foundation wall construction and method of constructing same



R. E. MERRILL Aug. 19, 1969 FOUNDATION WALL CONS'IHUCTLON AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May M 19%? I NVENTOR. RONALD E. MERRILL Aug. 19, 1969 R. E. MERRILL FOUNDATION WALL CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING SAME 2 Shee cs-Sheet 2 Filed May 9, 1967 INVENTOR. RONALD E. MERRILL- AGENT United States Patent 3,461,639 FOUNDATION WALL CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING SAME Ronald Earl Merrill, P.O. Box 122, Camas Valley, Oreg. 97416 Filed May 9, 1967, Ser. No. 637,111 Int. Cl. E04g 21/102; E02d 27/02, 15/04 US. Cl. 52-744 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure includes concrete wall construction wherein mesh-like members are manufactured to a desired footing and wall configuration and where, upon deposit of a quantity of concrete material intermediate the meshlike members, the latter will serve as a form to determine the shape of the footing and wall being formed and will ultimately become a part of the wall structure.

Background of the invention The present invention relates to building wall structure and particularly to walls constructed of poured concrete material which conventionally require temporarily installed forms of wood or sheet metal. In the following specification and claims the term wall is applied generally to concrete structures of various elongate configurations and not in the resctricted sense of a structure defined by planar vertical sidewalls.

The present wall construction involves pouring of the concrete at the work site into forms of porous construction wherein limited passage therethrough of the poured material occurs resulting in the incorporation of said forms into the wall structure. The steps of manufacture of a wall so formed may include application of compacting forces to fluid concrete to facilitate such passage of the concrete through the form.

In conventional concrete wall construction the preliminary steps of fabricating and installing metal or wooden forms of sheet material is very costly both from a materials and man-hour construction and installation effort required. Further, considerable skill is required for such work. Additionally, costly and time-consuming effort is necessarily expended in the removal, transport and storage of the concrete forms which are customarily of unwieldy size. The usual delay of at least one day is encountered between the pouring and setting of a footing and the pouring of a stem wall. This delay is obviated by the present invention since their pourings are simultaneously accomplished.

The present wall construction includes wire mesh form members which obviate conventional impervious forms and the costly factors attendant their use. It will be readily apparent that the provision of forms from leightweight mesh-like material of economical production line manufacture within a metal working shop, conveniently transportable to a work site in a nested manner and thereat incorporated into a wall structure are extremely advantageous, economically and structurally over existing structures and methods.

Summary The wire mesh forms disclosed with the present invention serve to substantially confine the fluid concrete material with an optimum passage of the concrete therethrough being determined by variable factors as later noted. The novel use of irregularly shaped form members of reticulate or interstitial material allows the poured concrete material to substantially envelop and incorporate the form members into the footing and wall being formed.

The completed wall structure so constructed may be finished to provide a smooth surface appearance by the application of a finishing tool with or without additional concrete material.

The high density of the concrete material as poured in conjunction with the present forms is enhanced by reason of the fact that voids are obviated by passage of any trapped air through the wire mesh during pouring and compaction.

Drawing description FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a. typical wall structure in the configuration of a foundation footing;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevation of FIGURE 1 with fragments removed;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a typical mesh form for use in a footing;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of a wall in the configuration of a curb with integral gutter;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of the bottom portion of a wall constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary, perspective view of a mesh useable as a form member and a reinforcing rod fragment;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of a mesh form of the present invention with vibratory compaction means being applied to the fluid concrete therein;

FIGURE 8 is a fragment of mesh to which a protective substance has been applied; and

FIGURE 9 shows the convenient nesting of a pair of typical mesh forms.

Description of preferred embodiments With continuing reference to the drawings and particularly FIGURES 1 and 2 thereof, the concrete footing or building foundation shown supporting studding shown in dashed lines is typical of concrete wall construction embodying the present invention. Shown fragmentarily in FIGURE 3 is a mesh form of the present invention indicated generally at 1 which is of the footing configuration and suitably braced for reception of poured concrete material.

A pair of mesh form members indicated generally at 2 and 3 are each machine formed into the desired irregular configuration, and interconnected in spaced apart relationship. For the construction of a concrete wall such as shown in FIGURE 1 each mesh member is formed into an upper vertical portion 4-5 and a lower vertical portion 6-7 each with intermediate horizontal sections 8 and 9 the latter defining along with portions ti and 7 the footing.

The mesh material may be constructed from sheet metal and of the type used throughout the building trade and commonly referred to as metal lath for the retention of plaster applied to a completed wall structure. Such metal mesh is conventionally formed from sheets of metal into a wire mesh by the consecutive steps of slitting and expanding the metal sheet to provide suitably sized interstices (approximately A x indicated at 10 (FIG. 6). Obviously other reticulate material such .as woven material having interstices may be used in place of the wire mesh.

Internal bracing for the spaced apart wire mesh members 2 and 3 is provided by vertically spaced, angularly formed rods 11 extending intermediate and lengthwise of the members. The angular rods 11 may be secured directly to the mesh by wire clips C or, as shown in FIGURE 6, to rods 13 which horizontally extend the length of the mesh members.

The lower vertical portions 6-7 of the members 2 and 3 are also braced to prevent their outward dislocation by deposited cement material by means of vertically disposed Z-shaped rods 12 each secured adjacent its upper and lower ends by wire clips similar to the manner above described. Additional bracing includes crossmembers as at 15.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the building art that various internal bracing arrangements may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The internal bracing shown and described is merely one satisfactory means of bracing which obviously may be varied to best suit the job at hand.

Another type of wall configuration particularly suited to construction by use of the present invention is an integrally formed curb and gutter structure, and end elevation of which is shown in FIGURE 4. An elongate, vertically disposed wire mesh member 16 constitutes one side of the curb-gutter form which is interconnected to a second form member 17 which is angular in section, the lower portion being turned outwardly as at 18. A wire mesh strip 19 constitutes a form for the outer, lower wall of the gutter. The wire mesh components of the curb-gutter form are interconnected by bracing structure similar to that above described and specifically by angularly formed rods 20 interconnecting the wire mesh members 16 and 17, which are individually reinforced by longitudinally extending rods 21. The form so constructed provides open areas at 22 and 23 for the passage therethrough of the poured concrete and for the application of a tamping tool.

A vertical side wall of the type shown fragmentarily in the end elevational view of FIGURE may be formed by use of parallel wire mesh forms 24-25 suitably spaced and braced as by angularly formed rods 26 and 1ongi tudinally extending rods 27 joined into a unit by wire clips as above described. It will be apparent that the height or width of any wall being constructed and the gage of the wire mesh material used will determine the extent of the internal bracing required.

Moisture proofing material 28 is shown in FIGURE 8 as applied to the lower margin of a wire mesh form for prevention of its rusting by ground moisture. Such material is preferably of the plastic base type which may be applied by a dipping operation to the mesh form in its entirety or to the lower margin of the wire, as shown. If desired, the form members, if constructed from steel, may be galvanized to further prohibit rusting.

As with conventional concrete forms, the building site is prepared usually including excavating and leveling operations. The mesh members, which are preferably machine pre-formed and dimensioned during their manufacture may be assembled either at the manufacturing facility or the work site in consecutive sections depending on the economics involved. Upon placement of the form, the concrete material is poured into the mesh form. The interstices of the wire mesh forms will permit limited passage therethrough of the concrete material.

The proportion of cement, water and aggregate in the concrete mix will determine, along with other factors, the extent of such passage. It has been found that ordinary proportions or mixes of concrete used in building construction will move outwardly to occupy the mesh interstices and envelop the mesh. A tamping tool which may be of the vibratory type as at 29 further induces such passage of the fluid concrete simultaneously cornpacting the same to obviate any voids or excess water in the concrete mix. In a Wall structure exposed to view wherein an attractive finish is desired the cement surface 4 may be finished by a trowel-type tool to provide a smooth surface.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A prefabricated building form for use in the construction of an integral concrete footing and wall structure and comprising in combination,

form members of irregular configuration arranged in a mutually spaced apart manner and each having an upper and lower vertical portion interconnected by a horizontal portion, said spaced apart upper portions disposed to substantially define a wall and said spaced apart lower and horizontal portions disposed to substantially define a footing,

wire rods intermittently attached to the opposing surfaces of said former members to rigidly brace said members in fixed relationship while permitting unobstructed concrete flow intermediate the members during pouring and tamping,

said form members being of interstitial material whereupon said pouring and tamping a boundary layer of concrete will pass through and envelop said interstitial material.

2. The prefabricated building form as claimed in claim 1 wherein said wire rods extend vertically between the upper and lower portions of each form member and hori zontally extending rods interconnecting said form members in said spaced apart manner.

3. The method of constructing a concrete wall structure comprising the following steps;

identically shaping members of interstitial material into the general irregular configuration of a footing and stem wall,

interconnecting said shaped members in opposed spaced apart parallel relationship having an open area therebetween, depositing a quantity of fluid concrete material intermediate the interconnected interstitial material to form simultaneously an integral footing and stem wall when set, agitating said quantity to promote passage of a boundary layer of concrete through said material enveloping same, and smoothing said boundary layer of concrete to provide a finished wall surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 874,226 12/1907 Muldoon 52-724 X 1,510,233 9/1924 McFarland 52446 2,250,763 7/1941 Hild 52293 X 2,589,021 3/1952 ONeal 52169X 3,157,098 11/1964 Mason 94-31 FOREIGN PATENTS 11,785 3/1934 Australia. 187,284 10/1956 Austria.

659,991 10/1951 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Concrete, June 1947, pages 20-22, 52422.

ALFRED C. PERHAM, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52169, 422, 650, 651 

